well after 3 mos. with my beautiful car I hit a curb. I didn't think it was bad but when I looked at my tire (front passenger side) it had a tear in the sidewall about an inch and 1/2 long and 1/4" deep.Should I be concerned? What I mean is could I experience an easy blowout or have balance problems? I have 18" summer perf. tires which I assume are quite soft because I barely noticed the
the curb bump. I also put some nicks in the rim. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has done this, any thoughts?
Also while I'm posting I'd like to know are water drops inside the doorwells, you know the frame you see when you open the doors, common when you wash your car. I took it thru a touchless car wash and noticed it after. It was in all 4 doors which makes me think it's normal.

 

I never knew the sidewall was 1/4" thick. Do you have a pic?

 

Without seeing exactly what you did, as a general rule of thumb, any time there's sidewall damage replace the tire.

The last thing you want is a blowout at 75mph.

 

Didn't your dealer offer you the wheel and tire insurance? It varies in price, but it's usually about $300 give or take a few bucks.

This insurance will replace both your wheel and your tire (as necessary), unless you screwed them up purely out of your own negligence. That is, it won't cover your clumsiness if you graunch a curb or something.

I don't normally buy stuff like this, but with these ultra-low profile tires and expensive rims, I've decided it's a good buy. All it would take is a bad pothole and you could easily have a bent or broken rim and a blown tire. I haven't priced the OEM rims, but I'd imagine a rim and a tire could easily run you close to $1,000 ...

If it's not too late, see if your dealer can still sell you the insurance. And here's a tip - the price is negotiable, since the dealer gets a pretty hefty commission. He just may be willing to cut his commission as a goodwill gesture.

 

I did it too when I first got the car.... Mines about 3/4" long... It looks like a little flap of rubber that is hanging on by one side... almost like when you cut your finger or something. But, it's been like that for quite a few months now and I've gone over 140 with it like that, and it hasn't given me any problems yet...

I bought the wheel and tire insurance but I didn't feel it was really worth taking it in yet... maybe when it's time to change my tires, I'll bring that up.

 

How does a wheel get screwed up/need replacing besides your own negligence or clumsiness? Are you referring to another car hitting it or something?

 

He answered that question in his very next paragraph with the pothole example.

 

I got the insurance as well. It seems like a good deal. The dealer told me that when my tires start to run out of rubber, to stick a nail in it and I could get a brand new set. Maybe you could apply that to your situation. Get the insurance, throw a nail in it and get brand new tires.

 

Sure, get enough people to do that and we all get to pay $600 for the insurance instead of $300

 

I called the Lexus service manager and he said it's nothing to worry about. I trust his word as we've (family) been dealing with him for a long time.
No, I don't have tire ins. but I don't think it would cover this anyway as it was my fault.

 

Dealer warranties like "tire/wheel insurance" are for suckers, especially if you can't use it for curb rash. You're a great bunch of guys, but anyone that paid $300 - and more if you financed that in - just to pay for a tire and wheel should something happen, made the dealer VERY happy with pure profit.

If you think I'm wrong, consider that they wouldn't sell this insurance if it got used often, period. Insurance is a risk game. I've been driving for about 15 years, and I've had two flat tires and no bent rims in that time period. I'm taking a pretty reasonable risk on myself to keep the $300 bucks in my pocket and pay for a new tire if I need it. If I ever need a new rim, I bet I can get it for less than $300 off of e-bay.

If you purchased it purely for peace of mind, fine, but to dealers, insurance plans like this are even better than undercoating and "teflon sealant" when it comes to profit centers.

 

Ever heard of the Darwin awards?

 

The safest thing to do is to get new tires but I too also have a cut in my front left tire, im not sure how deep it is but its pretty deep. took it to 150 and it was still safe, drove it from sf to la in hot weather and 120 still fine. I'm changing rims soon so ill just wait till then. I went to a tire shop and the guy said dont worry because you just hit the "meat" part of the tire.

 

Wow, what a coincidence! Our car suffered the exact same problem, which I alluded to here:

Linky

I didn't give many details, but my wife hit a curb with the passenger front tire which scraped the rim pretty badly, and took a chunk out of the tire sidewall. I didn't want her driving around on a damaged tire, so I purchased a new tire (same Dunlop SP Sport 5000M) and had it mounted on a new original rim I purchased on eBay for $225. The thread in the link above documents my experience with the darn TPMS. The guy who mounted the replacement tire and rim was a moron or just lazy and didn't put the pressure sensor in the new rim. However, when I took the car in for its 5K mile service, the dealership swapped the pressure sensor from the old rim to the new rim. Now we're good as new.

My advice is to change the tire. You can also find a substitute rim on ebay for a lot less than what the dealers charge.